Michael Polvere – StudiOne Action Shots

This sports photography company is horrible, horrible, horrible. They are extremely rude and incompetent. They photographed my daughter’s gymnastics meet this weekend, and it was a total disaster.
First, photos are not posted online. If you want to buy photos, or just look at them, you have to wait in a long line of other parents at the end of the event and wait for a computer to become available. I heard countless parents complaining about this.
Second, they are rude and incompetent, and don’t know how to run a business. They had photographers at 2 events — beam and floor. These were action photos, not posed photos. They were supposed to photograph the kids on both events. After the kids’ medal ceremony, which lasted an hour, I got in line to view my daughter’s photos and waited 20 minutes. The staff searched their computer folders but was unable to find her photos on their computer and said they were behind in uploading photos. They kept opening up folders and asking «Is this her team?» They said that if I come back after the medal ceremony, they should be ready. I told them that the medal ceremony already happened. They said it would be another 10 – 15 minutes. A woman held up a memory card marked «5:00 floor» and said that my daughter’s photos were on that card and it would just take a few minutes. I said that was fine and I waited by the desk. After a few minutes, another woman told me that I should get in line again. I said no, I already waited in that line. When the photos are ready, they can put me on the next available computer. They said that they can’t yank someone else off the computer when my photos are ready, and that everyone whose photos haven’t been ready has had to go back to wait in line! I asked, «Twice?!» Three employees assured me that everyone has to wait in line twice if their photos are not ready the first time. They said that by the time I get to the front of the line again, the photos should be ready.
So I went back to the end of the line, which was now longer, and waited. After waiting about 30 minutes, a man came up to me in line and said that there was no photos of my daughter’s floor routine but they had the photos of her beam routine, and that someone would help me when I got to the front of the line. I said fine.
After waiting about 40 minutes (60 minutes, if you include the first time I waited in line) I sat down at the computer and looked through the exact same computer folders — and they showed me the same sets of photos that they showed me the first time. There were no new photos at all — of my child or anyone else’s. After realizing there were no photos, the woman who was helping me panicked and abruptly got up and left, and another woman came over and told me that they were short handed and were unable to photograph everyone. Because sometimes, photographers get sick.
No photos. At all. After I waited in line twice. After I waited an hour. After they held up a memory card and told me that my daughter’s photos were on that card. After they told me that there were no photos of her floor routine, but they had photos of her beam routine.
Then they told me that I should have alerted them that there was no photographer at my daughter’s event if I wanted photos.
This wasn’t just one rude employee. This was a series of of employees who were all rude and incompetent.
And after putting me through all that, they tried to tell me it was my fault.